Archive for September, 2007

The benis is coming along nicely. I realized that I hadn’t shown any pictures of it yet, so here’s one of my first in-progress benis.

It doesn’t look too much like a penis yet, in this state, but I’m very pleased with how it’s coming out. I’ve been converting it from a crochet pattern to a knitting pattern on the fly, so it probably won’t look exactly like the one in the pattern. So far it’s been pretty easy, but I’m a little worried about the testicles… We’ll see. Once this one is done, I’ll be making another one for another friend. Yay penises for Christmas!

I finished the first young lady’s stocking on Friday, tried it on, and promptly discovered that my mods made the sock too short for my needs. I had originally planned to shorten the ribbing and do more repeats of the lace pattern in an attempt to conserve yarn (silly, I know). By the time I got through my extra repeats, it was clear that I would have to buy another skein, but I didn’t feel like ripping back. So, when I realized that it was too short, I got to pick out the cast on edge and knit another 2 1/2 inches up from that point. Now it’s long enough. So, I’ll say that I finished the sock in 4 days, even though that’s sort of cheating.

I cast on for the mate yesterday, resisting the urge to start 2 or 3 other projects. I’ve been feeling very discombobulated lately, which may be the reason for my startitis. Regardless, when I got into the second sock, I felt better, sort of. September is one of those months that really depress me, because the smells and sounds of fall remind me of the past. I do my little dance (manic/depressed) at other times of the year too, of course, but this month in particular is bad. Fortunately, I know to look for it, and prescribe myself lots of knitting. It makes me more productive, mostly, which is definitely good for Christmas knitting. Socks never fail to cheer me up (unless I screwed up or they are too small….). 🙂

Quite a few knitting podcasts that I listen to have referenced this word, as have a few blogs. It’s the middle of September, so, naturally, talk of the C word have increased dramatically. A good, forward-thinking knitter plans ahead. What’s the C word? Well, Christmas, of course. I have been thinking about Christmas, myself, and have started on one of my presents (the benis). I’m not sure what I’m going to do for my mom this year, because I knit her socks the last two years in a row. I will be knitting socks for my sister, and potentially for my mother-in-law. I’m not sure if she likes/wears socks, so I’m sort of nervous about it. Emailing may be in order (my husband has no idea if she likes them or not). I got some Cascade 220 via a swap, so I could potentially make her fuzzy feet or some other such felted cool thing.

In other news, the stockings are coming along swimmingly. I’m constantly thinking about them (when I’m not working on them), and have been going to bed later than normal because I’m obsessively working on them. I’m fairly sure that I’ll need another skein, but we will see.

…sometimes you don’t have enough. *sigh* I just started making the Evening Stocking for a Young Lady with my new awesome Shibui sock yarn. There is just something about this sock yarn that I can’t get enough of. It’s not quite as squishy as Koigu or Socks that Rock, nor as soft. There’s just…something about the stitch definition and the feel of the fabric on size 1 needles that I really like. And then there’s the color. Man. It can be really hard for me to find mostly solid super saturated sock yarns, and this yarn is perfect in that respect. Even Koigu, though awesome, doesn’t quite have the colors I’m looking for. And it’s perfect for this pattern! (I heart Nancy Bush)

Ok, now that I’ve gone on and on about how awesome this sock yarn is, I’ll get to the point. I surfed Ravelry for tips on these socks, and was taken aback. I knew they are long socks, and I want them to be long socks. I don’t think I have enough yarn, even with the mods I’ve already made (made the cuff 1.5 inches instead of 3). So, I will have to order one more skein. Now, I’m not sure if I should wait until I finish one sock to do so, or just order one now. I don’t know.